Prince R380

The Prince R380 was a mid-engined racing car that the Prince Motor Company built in 1965 to win the Japanese Grand Prix, after a privately entered Porsche 904 had beaten Prince's Skyline GTs in 1964. Its aerodynamic alloy body sat on a Brabham BT8 chassis and it used the 1,996 cc GR-8 straight-six, derived from the Skyline's G engine, producing 200 hp through a Hewland five-speed gearbox. With the 1965 Grand Prix cancelled it was used to test high speed aerodynamics and to break five E-class land speed records. R380s took the overall victory at the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway. After the merger Nissan rebuilt the cars as the R380-II with 220 hp, later sold them to privateers, and in 2005 Nismo restored an R380-II for exhibition events.